


Taking Care of Too Late

by thatcrazywriterley



Series: The Too Late Tales [24]
Category: AEW, All Elite Wrestling, Being The Elite (Web Series), Young Bucks-Fandom
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Heartbreak, Multi, Polyamorous Relationships, Polyamory, Protective Fathers, So much angst, brothers share a wife, heartbroken children, rash decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24399355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatcrazywriterley/pseuds/thatcrazywriterley
Summary: When their oldest daughter is bullied at school because of their relationship, Nick, Matt, and Reader have to figure out how to handle it. And Nick thinks he's figured out how.
Relationships: Matt Jackson/Reader, Matt Jackson/Reader/Nick Jackson, Nick Jackson/Reader
Series: The Too Late Tales [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695274
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Part 1

_(GIF owned by cowboysht on Tumblr)_

Matt sat behind the wheel, his hands gripping it so tightly that his knuckles were white. Nick was in the back next to Mattie, who was as pale as a sheet yet with spots of pink high on her cheeks. Her fingers were swallowed up by her Dad’s. Both of my boys looked somewhere between nauseous and furious.

“This is the last straw,” Matt growled through his teeth. “I’m walking in there right now and…”

“Papa, don’t,” our daughter whimpered. “Just take me home. I wanna go home. Please.”

I watched a muscle in my husband’s jaw bunch as he squeezed his eyes shut tight. The tears rolled big and fat down his cheeks. His hold on the wheel tightened, and I heard the aching groan that reverberated through his chest.

I turned in my seat so that I could look at Mattie. Her dark hair had only gotten darker as she’d grown up. It was a brown so dark it was nearly black. She’d sat on the floor in front of me this morning while I did a Katniss braid in her thick locks. Those eyes were as blue as ever, as big and bright as Nick’s. Now they were red and swollen from crying.

“Mattie,” I said quietly, reaching back to brush her bangs from her forehead. “We have to handle this. It was one thing when it was just name calling, but it’s gone too far. Mattie, the school needs to know, and these kids need to know it’s not okay for them to put their hands on somebody.”

“Mama, please,” Mattie replied, her eyes filling with tears. “Please. It’ll only make it worse.”

My heart broke in my chest. I felt it crack and shatter behind my ribs. “Tea,” I whispered. “We can’t just leave it alone. Those girls _hit_ you.”

From the peripheral vision, I saw Nick scrubbing his free hand over his face. His eyes were murderously dark. Someone had hurt his little girl—his greatest love—and he was doing all he could to hold his rage in check.

“Let’s go home,” he said at last. His voice was even and calm, but I could see the tension coiling in his limbs. “We’ll deal with this on Monday.”

Mattie climbed out of her seat and threw herself at Nick, wrapping her arms around him and holding on as if nothing would break them apart. He held her against his chest, his palm cradling the back of her head as if to protect her from everything in the world. I watched him breathe in the scent of her and squeeze his eyes shut tight.

It was amazing how my husbands demonstrated their rabid devotion to our daughter. Matt was ready to tear the world apart with his bare hands to avenge her. The moment he saw her, with her bottom lip split open and the bruises starting to bloom on her forearms, he had exploded in a rage that nearly undid him. He was so angry that he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t think straight. But Nick… his response was to hold his rage and hurt behind a mask of calm. He was hell bent on ensuring that Mattie felt protected, as if she had control of what was happening to her. Where his brother wanted to burn the world down, Nick wanted to shield her from it.

I was grateful for them—more than I could say. I didn’t know whether I was angry or sad. All I knew was that I was heartbroken for my daughter and the way the world had been so cruel to her.

***

At home, Mattie went straight to her room, Nick hot on her heels. Matt slammed his way out of Nick’s house and into his, something like a howl of rage echoing from inside it just before the door closed. Baby Ty and RJ were with Joyce and Matt Sr. Nicole and Lee were still at school. I stood for an instant in the living room of Nick’s house, unsure where to go. But the indecision was over almost before it began.

I tiptoed down the hallway and paused outside Mattie’s room. When she was little, this room had been painted like Sleeping Beauty’s forest. Her bed had been built like a castle, her name painted on a crown above the mattress, a slide down one side. A few days after her tenth birthday, she’d told Nick that she was too old for a castle bed. It had been taken apart and put in storage. In its place was a canopy bed draped with teal and green curtains and streamers around the posts.

Before I could knock, Nick opened the door. Mattie sat cross-legged in the center of her bed with her arms wrapped around the Mickey Mouse doll the boys had gotten for her at Disneyland. That was the one thing that she hadn’t yet grown out of.

“Can I come in, Tea?” I asked, looking past Nick to our daughter.

She pushed her hair off her face and wiped her eyes before nodding. I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to run my fingers through her hair. The door clicked shut and, a moment later, Nick reappeared. He sat at the end of the mattress, his back against one of the bedposts.

“Do you want to talk?”

My daughter looked from me to her Dad. I felt a stab of jealousy in my gut, but I pushed it aside. She needed to feel safe and like she had some control. Nick seemed to give her that, and I was eternally grateful for him.

“It’s okay, my love,” he replied. He turned his wedding band with shaking fingers. “You can tell us whatever you want to. It’s not going to make us angry or make us love you any less. And…”

I felt his eyes on me, and I met his gaze. My heart felt heavy knowing what he was about to say.

“And you get a say in what happens. We aren’t going to let this go away, Mattie, but your opinion matters.” He smiled at her in that way he had, and I watched some of the weight fall from her shoulders.

She took a long, deep breath. “They called me a freak, Mama. Because Dad and Papa are brothers. They… they said… they called you really bad names.” Mattie sniffed hard as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks again. “They were so mean to you, Mommy.”

I held out my arms for her and was surprised when she crawled into them. I held her tight against me as I wept for the way that the world had been so cruel. “Oh, sweetheart,” I cooed, hugging her as tightly as I could. My eyes caught Nick’s over her head, and I could see his jaw clenching. His blue eyes had gone gunmetal dark. The smiling sweetness that normally surrounded him disappeared in an instant.

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the side of Mattie’s head. “I’m going to talk to Papa, okay?” He put his cell phone on the bed next to her. “If you need me, you call Papa’s phone.”

Nick didn’t look at me before he slipped out of the room. The room felt grey without him, feeling like a funeral bell sounded. I could feel it reverberate deep in my bones.

Mattie threw her arms around my neck, sobbing so hard that her entire body rocked with it. I stretched out on the bed, cuddling her tight, telling her over and over how loved she was. She cried, and I cried with her.

It felt like hours later when her tears gave way to the deep, even breathing of sleep. Her cheeks were blotchy and red. Her hair was damp against her forehead. I pushed it up and behind her ears, kissed her gently on the temple, and slid out of the bed. Before I left, I eased Nick’s phone out of her hands.

She lay there, clutching her Mickey in her arms.

I shut the door quietly and walked into the master bedroom, tossing the phone on the mattress. My heart stopped when I saw the duffel bags and suitcases on the bed, all in various stages of packed. From where I stood, I saw Nick’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. His eyes were red as he leaned on the sink, bracing himself on his fists.

“Nick?” My voice was small and broken. Fear settled like lead in my stomach. My heart felt like it had been stabbed through.

I watched him suck in a heavy breath before turning off the bathroom light. He had his travel toiletry bag in his hand. He blinked hard and walked right by me to stuff it into a duffel bag. It took him a few tries to zip the bag. His hands were trembling.

“Nick?” I repeated. Blood pounded in my ears even as it felt like it was pouring out of me from the wound in my heart. I couldn’t get any oxygen. I felt lightheaded. “What are you doing?”

He kept his back to me. “I’m leaving.”

My knees gave out. I let out a whimper as I crumpled, but Nick caught me before I hit the ground. I wound my fingers in his shirt and gasped for air. “You can’t.”

“I have to,” he said, his voice flat and lifeless. “I have to… to protect Mattie. To protect all of the kids.”

_The_ kids. Not _our_ kids. Something tugged, separated beneath my ribs. Could someone survive having their soul ripped in half?

“You can’t…” I whimpered, trying to catch my breath, to focus. “She needs you. Don’t leave her…”

_Don’t leave_ me. _Please, don’t leave us._ _Matt won’t… MATT!_

“Does he know? Have you told him?” I braced myself, hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have my heart shattered twice over.

“Not yet. I don’t intend to until I’m ready to drive away.”

_Because he’ll stop you. He’ll talk sense into you_.

“What am I supposed to tell her? All of them?” I looked up into his face and remembered the first time I saw him. I’d thought then that he had the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. He wouldn’t look at me.

He sat me on the edge of the bed and went back to packing. “You’ll think of something. They have you and they have Matt. They have a family.”

“But they won’t have their Dad!” The words came rushing out, an anger I’d never known splashing through my veins. “You have been there since the day they were born, Nick.”

He angrily zipped another suitcase shut. “I know that. Don’t think for one second that this doesn’t rip me apart.” He threw a duffel bag over his shoulder. “It’s better this way, Y/N. We were all stupid and naïve to think this wasn’t going to happen eventually.”

He stopped and stood in front of me. For a moment, I thought he was going to change his mind. That he was going to stay. He cradled my head in his hand and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I love you. And that’s why I have to do this.” And then, without another look back, he was gone.


	2. Part II

_(GIF owned by kevinsteen on Tumblr)_

My fingers trembled as I sat on the edge of the bed I’d shared with Nick so many times. I couldn’t understand or make sense of what had just happened. I stared at the door, the image of him with his bags burned behind my eyelids, praying that he would come back in. That he would change his mind. That none of this was happening.

I heard the the door opening, and I jumped to my feet, racing down the hallway. I hoped against hope that he would be there, his bags all around him one the floor as he finally came to his senses.

But it wasn’t Nick. It was Matt. He looked at me with his deep brown eyes, and I could see my own pain reflected on his face. He was pale and dumbstruck.

“Matt…” I broke over his name, the tears coming in a flood that I couldn’t stem. He took one step toward me, and we fell into one another. Matt wrapped his arms tight around me, one circled around my back and the other cradling my head against his shoulder. “He…”

We crumpled to the carpet together. Matt held me tightly, as if he could physically keep me from shattering into a million pieces. His lips pressed against my temple, his tears dampening my hair.

“I’ll fix it, Y/N,” he said, his voice deep and gravely. “I’ll get him back. I swear.”

My fingers tightened in his t-shirt, and I sobbed so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath. Panic raced through me like lightning. “He… he… left… us!”

Matt’s arms shuddered as he held me. His thumb brushed along my scalp. “He’s being stupid. He’ll come back. I’ll bring him back.” His chest heaved. “I _promise_ you, I _swear_ to you, I will bring him home.”

“The kids…” I gasped, choking on air I couldn’t get. “Mattie…”

“I’ll bring him home, Y/N.”

***

Matt took the kids out to the backyard, gathering them all together around the deck table. I couldn’t bring myself to go with him. I couldn’t hear him tell them that their Dad had gone. I couldn’t bear the thought of their tears, not when I was nearly drowning in my own.

I couldn’t get out of bed. It was like there was a dark, heavy weight in my chest, and I bowed beneath it, unable to carry it on my own. My heart was splintered into a thousand shards. There was a dull, stabbing ache somewhere beneath my ribs. I knew it was my soul. The moment Nick had walked out it had ripped in two. I was surprised I was still alive. It felt like I was bleeding internally.

The weekend passed in a haze. I knew the kids came in. I knew Matt came in. He slipped into bed beside me, hugged me and cried into my hair, his heart just as broken as mine. Matt and Nick had always been together, and now they weren’t. There was no telling how that one decision would ripple through the lives and careers of the Young Bucks.

If they broke, they were broken because of me.

***

Monday afternoon, I pulled myself together long enough to meet with Mattie’s principal. I knew I looked a mess—pale with dark circles beneath my eyes—and Matt hardly looked any better. I couldn’t help but feel a certain sort of rage and horror when we pulled into the school’s parking lot.

It was this place and the people inside it that had broken up my family. Those girls and their parents and the teachers who did nothing about it.

Matt did most of the talking. I was surprised that he was as calm as he was, but I knew there was a rage seething beneath. He was barely holding himself together, and then he had to hold me and the kids together, too.

Somehow, by the time we left, there had been threats to sue and a suggestion that perhaps our children might be better off being homeschooled.

I vomited in the parking lot, and crawled into bed the moment we got home.

***

I’d lost track of time. I didn’t know how many days had passed since Nick left. All I knew was that it felt as if the world had stopped. I spent every moment weighed down with the pain between my ribs, the heaviness on my shoulders, the guilt of retreating so far into myself that I nearly abandoned my children and my husband.

I awoke in the dead of night. The clock said it was two in the morning. I stumbled out of bed and walked through the house like a zombie. I opened bedroom doors, watched my children sleep soundly. I stood in the living room and somehow found myself in the kitchen, staring out the window toward Nick’s house.

There was a light on.

My heart stopped and dropped into my stomach. I crashed out of the house and ran barefoot across the patio toward the kitchen door. I pounded against the wood, desperate tears pouring down my face as I tried to turn the knob.

The lock slid free.

The door swung inward.

The world slid sideways, blurred grey around the edges. Matt stood at the door, his brown eyes crackling, face red beneath his tan. My chest ached terribly; the bubble of hope ready to burst.

And then I saw him, sitting at the table with his head in his hands. Suitcases in a heap against the cabinet.

“Nick?” My voice was quiet, soft. Desperate to believe that I wasn’t going crazy.

“Y/N,” Matt said, voice low and deep as he settled his hand on my waist. He stood in the way, stopping me from getting into the kitchen. “Go back home. Please.”

My hands trembled as they clutched his shirt. “This is my home, too,” I whimpered. I felt small and broken as I looked past Matt’s arm toward where his brother sat. “It’s… Nick… it’s Nick…”

I watched pain ghost over my husband’s face. He blinked hard before he slipped his hand into my hair and pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead. Then he stepped aside.

The world was still fuzzy. I felt lightheaded as I crossed the hardwood floor. Nick hadn’t looked up at all. His blue eyes were fixed on the center of the table. Matt walked with his hand on the base of my spine, as if he knew I was two seconds away from passing out.

I sank into the chair he held out and blinked at the black spots that flashed in my vision. “Nick?” I said his name as if it was the only word in the world.

At last… finally… he looked up. His blue eyes were wide, red, and swollen from crying. I could see the streaks of tears down his cheeks. I could hardly hear him when he spoke. “Y/N…”

There was no stopping it. No holding it back. I sank into tears, sobbing so heavily that I couldn’t catch my breath. A band had been looped around my torso, tightening harder and harder around my chest, splintering my ribs, slicing into my organs. I couldn’t breathe.

“Feel better?” Matt snarled as he materialized in the space beside me. He brushed his hand over my hair, tucking it behind my ears. He pulled me against him, wrapping his arms protectively around my head. “You did this, Nick. _You_.”

I gasped, choking as I tried so desperately to find air. There was a barely controlled rage in Matt’s voice when he spoke.

“Did you stop to think, for one second, what this would do to her? She didn’t get out of bed for _days_.” He cradled my head in his hands, almost as if he were trying to block out the sound of his words. “She cried—she _cries_ —all the time. She barely sleeps. I’ve barely seen her eat. She shatters every time she has to look at the kids and hear them ask where you are. Damnit, Nick, you broke her. You did that to your _wife_ … to _our_ wife. **_You_** did it.

“But not just to her. The kids don’t know what to do. Mattie doesn’t want to come out of her room. Nicole has had nightmares every night.” He flung his arm out, gesturing toward his house where the kids were sound asleep. “The boys are young, but they know something’s wrong. RJ cried for you for _hours_. Lee won’t talk.”

I caught sight of Nick, his face blotchy and his blue eyes crystalline with fresh tears. He made a wounded noise in his chest, pressing his fists hard against his mouth.

“But you didn’t think about that, did you, Nick?” Matt shouted louder. “The moment it got hard, the moment life became difficult for us, you bailed. You walked away from everything we’ve fought for over the last eleven years. And it was _so easy_ for you. _You_ didn’t have to deal with the fallout. _I_ did. **_You_** didn’t have to watch the woman you love break into pieces. **_I_** did. **_YOU_** didn’t have to tell your children that their Dad was gone. **_I DID_**.”

Matt’s rage slammed into his brother. Nick choked on his tears. “It wasn’t easy,” he whimpered. “How could you think it was easy?”

“Looked easy to me!” Matt snarled. “You didn’t look back! You didn’t call or text, didn’t let anyone know where you were or if you were okay. You sure as hell didn’t try to find out if your family was okay!”

“I left for my family,” Nick roared, standing up so fast that his chair fell over backward. “I left so our children didn’t get teased and bullied and _beat up_ at school because their mother got unlucky enough to love the two of us! I left so our children could have a normal life!”

The band around my chest tightened even further. I was sure it was going to kill me, that it was going to snap me in half.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and leaned against the table, looking across the wood at me. Even through the black spots dancing in my vision, I could see the hurt in his blue eyes. His fingers flexed as if he wanted to reach for me but thought better of it.

“Y/N… believe me, please… I…” He dropped his head. His tears dripped onto the tabletop. “I wish… I wish I could take it back. I wish I’d never left you.”

Matt grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him away from the table. Away from _me_. I choked and lunged up from the chair. My knees gave way beneath me, and I crumbled to the floor.

Nick dashed out of his brother’s grasp and nearly skidded across the table. He landed hard on his knees in front of me and gathered me up in his arms.

He was there. He was home. He had come back on his own.

There was a _crack_ and Nick fell back on his ass, a bright red handprint on his cheek.


	3. Part 3

_(GIF owned by allelitewrestlings on Tumblr)_

Nick stared up at me, his blue eyes bright and wide as he put a hand to his cheek. I looked down at my hand, feeling the sting go through my palm. I couldn’t quite figure out what I’d just done. All I knew was that I needed him to fell how I did… just for a moment.

“You _left_ me! You left _us_!” I screamed at him, even as I felt dizziness closing in and the ground rushing toward me. I was only seconds away from passing out for good.

He climbed up onto his knees, reaching for me with desperation in his eyes. “I know. I messed up bad… _really_ bad, Y/N. I wish…” Nick gathered me up in his arms, even if I thrashed against him, anger and hurt rushing through me. I thumped my fists against his chest. He clutched me tighter, his voice broken with heavy sobs. “I wish I’d never left. But I did, and I have to fix it. Let me fix it.”

I pushed feebly against his chest, whimpering. A moment later, Matt wedged in between us, yanking Nick away from me. Matt dragged his brother halfway across the kitchen, nearly shoving him back against the cabinet. Nick’s head nearly bounced off the wood.

“Stop it, Nick. Stop _groveling_. Stop trying to guilt her into forgiving you.” Matt snarled the words, angrier than I’d ever seen him. “You screwed up, Nick. And you don’t get to just walk back in and expect some half-assed apology to get you some easy forgiveness.”

“That’s not…” Nick looked between the two of us, pain etched in his face. “I don’t deserve anything…”

“Damn right you don’t,” Matt replied, pacing back toward me. He crouched in front of me and pulled me close, brushing my hair back from my face. His brown eyes softened when he looked at me, when his fingers stroked along my tearstained cheeks. “Go home. Please. Let me deal with him.”

I wanted to so much. I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything more than I wanted to leave in that moment. I wanted to be free of the anger and sadness and the bone-deep ache that I’d felt since the moment Nick walked out. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“I can’t,” I whispered, clutching at my husband’s arms. Matt squeezed his eyes shut as if he were trying to hold back tears. “I can’t.”

“He doesn’t deserve this from you, Y/N,” he said, smoothing his hands over my hair. “Please… he broke you once. I can’t watch him do it again.”

I wrapped my arms around Matt, hugging him as tightly as I could. I couldn’t understand how I still had tears to cry, but I did. They streaked down my cheeks and dripped from my chin. How I hadn’t cried myself into an empty husk… I’d never know.

“Please,” Matt whispered, tears of his own finally appearing in his dark eyes.

Leaning forward, I pressed a kiss against his forehead. I brushed his cheeks with my thumbs, gathering his tears on my fingertips. “I love you, Matt Jackson. I love you desperately and completely. But I love him, too. I can’t just walk away.”

“He did,” my husband whimpered. “He walked away from you. From _us_.”

I nodded, cradling his face in my palms. “But he’s home now. We have to fix this. If not for you and me, then for our kids.”

Matt kissed me softly, his hands splayed on his knees. For the first time since that night, he let down his walls and let me see how much he missed his brother. I wasn’t the only one who had been broken the night Nick walked out.

I got to my feet and held out my hand for Matt. He wrapped his fingers around mine and pushed himself up. When he was on his feet again, he curled his arm around my neck, holding me protectively as we crossed the kitchen to where Nick still sat against the cabinets. I felt Matt trembling from head to toe as I reached toward Nick.

After a moment’s hesitation, Matt stretched out his hand, too.

Nick looked up at us, pain and a deep despair that was soul deep hiding behind the blue of his eyes. He glanced between us, almost as if he intended on scrambling away. It broke my heart when I realized that he looked like a wounded animal—backed into a corner, afraid, scared.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. Matt…”

I wiggled my fingers. I tried to smile through the tears. “Come here, Nick.”

He got to his feet slowly, moving deliberately, making sure to stay just out of reach. An ache ran through my chest… pain like my soul being shredded into pieces again. It was a physical sensation that forced a gasp of air out of me.

It seemed that was enough. Nick reached out, cradling the back of my head as he pulled me close. He breathed deep as he settled our foreheads together. The air grew damp and hot as his eliminated every inch of space between us.

“Y/N…” Nick whispered, brushing his fingers along my hair. “Please… let me make this right. I know I messed up. And it doesn’t matter why I did it because it hurt you. It hurt our kids. It hurt my brother.”

Matt moved, pressing the air even closer around us, and put his arm around his brother.

***

I couldn’t remember how it happened, but we ended up falling asleep in a heap on the sofa in Matt’s house. A glance at my phone calendar said it was Saturday. Nick had been gone a full week. There were so many things I wanted to ask, to know about the time he had been away, but I didn’t think I was brave enough yet.

And honestly, I couldn’t even remember if Matt had left in the middle of the week for the AEW taping. I was ashamed at how much I’d shut down during the time without Nick.

Matt was still asleep when I woke up. Nick was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, I felt panic rise in my throat. I wondered if I’d dreamed everything… if Nick really hadn’t come home… I felt that bleary sort of sadness slip into being again. I felt it threaten to drag me under.

Then I heard his voice. It was coming from down the hallway. From Ty’s nursery.

I tip-toed along the carpet, my heart thumping as I drew closer. Peeking around the doorframe, I saw Nick sitting in the rocking chair with baby Ty in his arms. He whispered to him softly, stroking our son’s round little cheeks and wispy brown hair.

“I’m sorry, baby boy,” he said, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. “I promise I’m never leaving you again. You won’t remember this… you might be the only one who doesn’t grow up hating me.”

My vision blurred. “Nick… they aren’t going to hate you.”

He looked up. “It’s not that simple, Sunshine.”

I slipped into the room and knelt at his feet. “You’re their Dad. And they’ve missed you so much. You’re home now, Nick. If you want to make this right… stop thinking about what you _did_ and start doing something.”

“How do I fix this?”

I settled my head on his knee and sighed. “Tell the truth. Why did you really leave? It’s more than just what happened with Mattie.”

He cradled Ty close to his chest, dropping a kiss on his head. Nick closed his eyes, breathing in the baby-sweet scent of our son. “You’re Matt’s wife. No matter what _we_ say or what _we_ think, that’s the way it is. He got there first… he got to _you_ first. I know how much he loves you. And I know how much _I_ love you. But it doesn’t change the fact that I… I wasn’t your first choice. I’m… I’m second and I have been. I’ve always been. Matt should have shut me down at the wedding. At least then I wouldn’t have spent eleven years feeling second best.”

I sat up on my knees, meeting his gaze. “Nicholas Lee Jackson, how could you think…” I stopped, blinking back the ache that stabbed between my ribs. I reached toward him. “I’ve done this, haven’t I? This is my fault. My selfishness. Not wanting to give you up.”

“Y/N… no… this isn’t…”

“Don’t, Nick. Don’t try to make this anything other than the truth. If I hadn’t agreed with Matt that day… your life would be so different.” My ribs ached. It was becoming hard to breathe. “You might have a wife… one that’s just yours. Kids you don’t have to wonder about. You could have had a life, and I took that away from you.”

“No,” Nick said firmly. He reached for me, curling his fingers around the back of my neck, running his thumb along that spot behind my ear. “I chose this. I chose you and this life. And God forgive me, but I don’t want anyone else. I’ve never wanted anyone else.”

The name bubbled up on my lips before I could stop it. “What about Shaye?”

Pain flashed over Nick’s face. “I think I felt sad for her. She was never you. It’s always been you, Y/N. No one can ever match you.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “It wouldn’t matter if things had happened differently at the wedding. It’s just you. It’ll only ever be _you_.”

“If you would have asked first, I would have said yes,” I replied, feeling as if I was betraying Matt with my words. “You’re not second to me, Nick. You never have been. If it hadn’t been for you taking my bag that day… it’s because of you that I have five beautiful children and a life that’s made me happier than I ever dreamed I could be. I love you, Nick. And just because I love Matt doesn’t mean I love you.”

Nick sighed. “I don’t deserve you, Y/N. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Or your love after what I’ve done.”

I took a deep breath. This was what love was, wasn’t it? It was about getting through the bad times together, about forgiving and supporting each other.

“Love isn’t about what you deserve.” I smiled, a little sad. “And even if it was, you _do_ deserve it.”

Before I could say another word, steps thundered down the hallway. Nicole and Lee appeared, eyes going wide when they saw Nick with their brother in his arms. They grinned. Lee came rushing into the room just as Nicole dashed back the way she’d come. RJ toddled in a moment later, dragging Matt with him. The brothers looked at one another, communicating in that silent way of theirs.

I stood and took Ty from Nick, figuring he would be needing both arms free.

“Dad?” Mattie’s voice was faint and quiet from the doorway. Nick looked at her, his face scrunching as he cried and nodded. Our daughter let out a sob and raced across the room, leaping into his arms. “Dad!”

Nick wrapped his arms tight around her, holding her tight against him as they cried together.

“Don’t ever leave us again, Dad,” she demanded.

“I won’t, my love,” he whispered. “I won’t.”


End file.
